ACS Statistics Reveal Continuing Declines in Cancer Mortality

Despite an overall decrease in the number of US cancer deaths, some cancer types are on the rise, and disparities remain between genders and ethnicities.

Written byCatherine Offord

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The beginning of 2017 was a busy time for cancer awareness, with the World Health Organization (WHO) putting out its Guide to Cancer Early Diagnosis in anticipation of World Cancer Day on February 4, and the release of one of the most highly anticipated publications every year: The annual American Cancer Society (ACS) Cancer Facts & Figures report—a detailed study of population-based cancer incidence and mortality in the U.S. that teases apart trends across cancer types and demographics.

This year, “we found that the cancer death rate is continuing to decline and has in fact dropped by about 25 percent in the past couple of decades,” says the report’s lead author, Rebecca Siegel, strategic director of the ACS’s Surveillance Information Services. “The reason that’s important ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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